Glad I wasn’t committed to going to WizardWorld

Posted on by thehutch
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I got laid off today.

No warning whatsoever, no gossip, no rumors…just having a great day, with my parents visiting tonight and planning to take Friday off to spend with them…and all of a sudden I get the phone call.

“Can you meet with Renae at 2:40?”
Me: “Okay, sure. What’s this concerning?”
“…She’ll tell you when you come in.”
That’s NEVER a good sign.

It’s nothing to do with me. IBM simply had a bad quarter and a lot of good people are getting the sack. So now I’m going in tomorrow to clean out my desk and work all 8 hours because it’s the last income I’ll have for a while.

And what REALLY hurts is that I’ve fought for a year and a half to get a lock on my office door, just like everyone else in every building at IBM. Mine was the only one without a lock, and because of that security would rifle all my possessions looking for security breaches. A week ago, they announced that included in a massive move expense was the money to finally put a lock on my door. And now I’m out.

I’ve spent the last few weeks discussing with everyone whether to just splurge and attend Wizard World in Chicago…even though it would mean driving alone, spending $80+ on gas, getting a hotel by myself…or whether I should stay home and have a garage sale to make some money.

Getting laid off has pretty much settled that debate.

So, if any of you are going to be near Rochester, MN, next Friday, e-mail me and I’ll give you directions to the garage sale.

I have to work on my resume tonight. Later, I’ll post updates as to how this will affect Monitor Duty and what I’ll be doing.

9 thoughts on “Glad I wasn’t committed to going to WizardWorld”

  1. My condolences. My recommendation is to drink beer… A lot of beer. Have a 24 hour pity party for yourself, HATE “The Man” with everything you’ve got, and when you wake up on Sunday morning… peruse the want ads and realize that you’re better than all that crap. (even though delivering meals to the elderly for $11.50 an hour sounds pretty good)

    FIGHT THE POWER! FIGHT THE POWER! FIGHT THE POWER!

    (at least you can get unemployment for six months and find a new job. YAY CAPITALISM.)

  3. Nothing good about a lay-off. Sorry it happened, man. We’re all around if you need to vent and take your time figuring out the deal with MonitorDuty, we’re not going anywhere. Best wishes.

  4. You know, this reminds me of a funny-in-retrospect story. My wife and good buddy and I used to go to the local 3x / year RPG convention pretty often, and for a while every time we went, someone got fired!

    My wife and I set up to go a week after our family buziness went kaput, then the next one was right after I was fired with no warning, and then the one afterwards, my friend got canned. Quite odd.

    By the by, WW in LA sort of sucks in my experience, so maybe that helps a little…

  5. Michael, I’m so sorry to hear about your job loss. If there’s anything I can do (short of driving to Minnesota – much as I love a long road trip, I can’t take the time off, and anyway, my car recently got totalled), don’t hesitate to ask.

  6. Michael,

    Sorry to hear about your situation. I’m an optimist, so I am convinced that this will lead you to better things. I’m also a realist, so as much as I’d like to tell you that all those good things are around the corner starting Monday, I have a tingling spider-sense that it may be longer. A part of me is reckless and would say go to Wizard World Chicago, it will do your morale a world of good. but another part of me has been where you’re at right now, and I know that as much as you should go, gas prices won’t come back down. Besides, I can’t go to Wizard World this year either, and if I can’t go…So, how do those directions to the garage sale go again…?

    Hang in there!

  9. Best wishes for you and Melinda, Hutch. Hope you find an even better job soon.

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